Monday, September 01, 2008

Instant Picnic (just add water)

I brought my Instant Picnic Kit to school with me today--a picnic basket, some lunch, and a checkered tablecloth--and sent out an e-mail to my colleagues inviting them to a spontaneous Labor Day picnic. If we have to teach on Labor Day, we may as well have a little fun too.

Which we did. I'm not sure how many people showed up because they kept coming and going, but we ran out of space at the picnic table and had to pull up some chairs. One colleague rolled out a wheelchair that happened to be sitting around his building and sat in it at the end of the table. Every time a new person arrived, he would stand up and claim a miracle.

All day long people have been asking for my help with problems that fall outside my bailiwick, problems that are normally solved by the staff members and administrators who have the day off. I do not know how to fix the copier, send a fax to China, find out whether a particular classroom is available at 3 p.m., or replace the ink cartridge in a computer lab that belongs to another department, but I do know how to have a picnic, which, on Labor Day, is all we really need.

I wonder whether I should list that on my annual review?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's on days like this when I am sad to have graduated.